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What Is Your Problem?
Jack Dee has been very busy during lockdown and would like to update everybody on what he's been up to.
While the nation has been baking bread and clearing out cupboards, Jack has retrained online as a psychotherapist and is now open for business. After four hours of study, he has a certificate of completion from The Ruislip College of Advansed Learning [sic].
If you have an emotional, relationship, work or other issue that you need help with, then Jack's your man.
A rich compendium of your problems along with Jack's unique, very professional, advice, What Is Your Problem? is a book to turn to when life has taken a downward turn, or you just need a very good laugh.
While the nation has been baking bread and clearing out cupboards, Jack has retrained online as a psychotherapist and is now open for business. After four hours of study, he has a certificate of completion from The Ruislip College of Advansed Learning [sic].
If you have an emotional, relationship, work or other issue that you need help with, then Jack's your man.
A rich compendium of your problems along with Jack's unique, very professional, advice, What Is Your Problem? is a book to turn to when life has taken a downward turn, or you just need a very good laugh.
352 pages, Hardcover
Published October 28, 2021
39 people are currently reading
130 people want to read
About the author
Jack Dee
54 books8 followersJames Andrew Innes "Jack" Dee is an English standup comedian, actor and writer known for his sardonic, curmudgeonly and deadpan style. Dee was the youngest of three children born to Rosemary A. (née Stamper) and Geoffrey T. Dee, after Joanna Innes Dee & David Simon Innes Dee. Jack Dee was born in Petts Wood, then in Kent, now in Greater London, but his family moved to Winchester when he was young. Dee has four children - Hattie, Phoebe, Miles and Charles.
His first public gig was in 1986. He has since gone on to act in such programmes as Lead Balloon (BBC), appear on various panel shows and to write his autobiography, Thanks for Nothing, which was published in 2008.
His first public gig was in 1986. He has since gone on to act in such programmes as Lead Balloon (BBC), appear on various panel shows and to write his autobiography, Thanks for Nothing, which was published in 2008.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
December 1, 2022
Extremely funny and enjoyable. And listening to the audiobook in the typical pissed-off-about-everything Jack Dee voice had me laughing at so many instances.
Realizing that comedy audiobooks are actually where the medium fits well with the content.
Realizing that comedy audiobooks are actually where the medium fits well with the content.
February 1, 2022
During lockdown Jack claimed he had retrained as a psychotherapist (a 4 hour course) and that anybody who wanted advice should tweet him and he would answer in his new book. I was wary this was true so I checked his account and sure enough the tweet, and the questions, are there (although I'm not sure on all of them).
Jack goes about answering the questions in what can only be described as "Jack Dee manner" using his well known "happy demeanor" (his words). His claims that he boasts a popular "one and done" session rate and that all his customers are so "happy" that they never come back are easy to believe after the first couple of responses.
The advice is somewhat different to that which you would receive from someone who writes for a newspaper, but completely different to the advice you would get from an actual psychotherapist. Let's face it, it's a book by a comedian. You should expect going in that this was essentially a way for him to tell jokes during lockdown.
Jack Doles out advice based on his own opinions and experiences, frequently referring to his own family and friends, "happy demeanor", and "widely known (and discreditied) psychological studies".
So yes, this is a book of jokey replies to questions. I thought it was brilliantly funny for the most part. I think you probably need to give this one a go on audio though as a lot of the jokes rest on Jack's delivery.
The only real question I'm left with is if any of the people actually took the advice he gave. Christmas would have been interesting in those households at least.
Jack goes about answering the questions in what can only be described as "Jack Dee manner" using his well known "happy demeanor" (his words). His claims that he boasts a popular "one and done" session rate and that all his customers are so "happy" that they never come back are easy to believe after the first couple of responses.
The advice is somewhat different to that which you would receive from someone who writes for a newspaper, but completely different to the advice you would get from an actual psychotherapist. Let's face it, it's a book by a comedian. You should expect going in that this was essentially a way for him to tell jokes during lockdown.
Jack Doles out advice based on his own opinions and experiences, frequently referring to his own family and friends, "happy demeanor", and "widely known (and discreditied) psychological studies".
So yes, this is a book of jokey replies to questions. I thought it was brilliantly funny for the most part. I think you probably need to give this one a go on audio though as a lot of the jokes rest on Jack's delivery.
The only real question I'm left with is if any of the people actually took the advice he gave. Christmas would have been interesting in those households at least.
September 23, 2025
I really was looking forward to reading this book but it was so disappointing. I really struggled to get through it and when he said bad things about my home town at the end I'd had enough! Really didn't enjoy it at all.
November 8, 2023
I was disappointed with this book. It started well, with Jack Dee's hallmark cynicism and wit but I found that I was getting bored with it three-quarters of the way through and didn't read the last half-dozen "letters".
September 28, 2025
Chronically unfunny.
April 25, 2022
I'm torn on this book. I'm a huge Jack Dee fan and while the book's idea is fun, the writing is good, and there are some laugh out loud moments, the book didn't land for me. Because it's a series of agony aunt style questions and advice, it doesn't build to anything. The book doesn't even conclude. It just ends. It's a fun premise but not enough of a one to hang a book on. I give it 2.5-stars. Sorry Jack. :-/
February 3, 2022
Like the Louis Theroux 'lockdown' book, this was hampered by its restrictions of the time.
This doesn't excuse the fact that the main premise of this book is what I said about his last, in that it's just a lot of nonsense. He approached his first book as a piss take and this is just the same really. Nothing seems genuine with him, which is a coping mechanism.
And I say this as a Jack Dee fan from watching his specials in the early 90s. I would memorize his routines and take his jokes into school and they would go down an absolute storm and teachers and pupils would venerate me as a comedic genius.
JUST KIDDING
But this book, Jack answering questions from the internet is a bit lazy. But also with the restrictions, a bit clever too. Saying that, I would have loved a bit more honesty and the real Jack and not the one who was just always taking the piss.
This doesn't excuse the fact that the main premise of this book is what I said about his last, in that it's just a lot of nonsense. He approached his first book as a piss take and this is just the same really. Nothing seems genuine with him, which is a coping mechanism.
And I say this as a Jack Dee fan from watching his specials in the early 90s. I would memorize his routines and take his jokes into school and they would go down an absolute storm and teachers and pupils would venerate me as a comedic genius.
JUST KIDDING
But this book, Jack answering questions from the internet is a bit lazy. But also with the restrictions, a bit clever too. Saying that, I would have loved a bit more honesty and the real Jack and not the one who was just always taking the piss.
May 3, 2022
Lockdown saw a surge in the nation for baking sourdough bread, learning a new language and doing jigsaw puzzles. However, comedy's little ray of sleet, Jack Dee, applied himself to a four hour online course which saw him become a fully fledged psychotherapist!
This book is the culmination of tweets that he received from people asking for advice on a myriad of problems. All of his answers are the straight talking, tongue in cheek kind, as you would expect and there are some very funny laugh out loud moments but I'm afraid it just didn't do it for me.
I like Jack Dee as a comedian but found the nature of this book tiresome. It's probably best kept as a "dip into and have a laugh" kind of book rather than a read straight through.
This book is the culmination of tweets that he received from people asking for advice on a myriad of problems. All of his answers are the straight talking, tongue in cheek kind, as you would expect and there are some very funny laugh out loud moments but I'm afraid it just didn't do it for me.
I like Jack Dee as a comedian but found the nature of this book tiresome. It's probably best kept as a "dip into and have a laugh" kind of book rather than a read straight through.
May 7, 2022
I could not finish the book, I got halfway.
This book would have benefited from 2 parts in stead of 1.
For a while it is funny, witty and a good read but.....after some time it gets a bit more of the same...
Nag nag nag nag....and it takes the fun out of it.
He is not the most optimistic person in the world and that's all very funny but it can get too much.
After the 50% point I had enough for a while.
So make the book shorter and then after a year another book.
Everyday problems, problems with the in-laws, problems with children.....etc.
Maybe after a year I will read the other half and I will treat it as a second book.
This book would have benefited from 2 parts in stead of 1.
For a while it is funny, witty and a good read but.....after some time it gets a bit more of the same...
Nag nag nag nag....and it takes the fun out of it.
He is not the most optimistic person in the world and that's all very funny but it can get too much.
After the 50% point I had enough for a while.
So make the book shorter and then after a year another book.
Everyday problems, problems with the in-laws, problems with children.....etc.
Maybe after a year I will read the other half and I will treat it as a second book.
September 13, 2023
Not going to lie but I am absolutely gutted to only give this 2 stars because I find Jack Dee so funny but this book barely made me smile. Don’t get me wrong some parts I did have a little chuckle to myself but overall it was a bit boring.
dnf
July 1, 2022I like Jack Dee but didn’t laugh once in three chapters and was just irritated. Maybe it would have grown on me but life is too short!
April 18, 2023
I love Jack Dee, he's an excellent comedian, but this book does him a disservice. It's an interesting idea, Jack during lockdown retrained as a psychotherapist at a online university that unfortunately shut down the day after he graduated.
This is, therefore, a collection of answers to questions sent to him. A modern day Clarie Rayner if you like. And this is where the problem lies.
As a sketch on a show this would have been good. As a few columns in an anthology this would have been good. As a 350 page book, maybe not so much. I can hear this book in Jacks deadpan voice, and it would work for him, but it is just too much. The joke is spread much too thin and all just feels a little too samey.
This is, therefore, a collection of answers to questions sent to him. A modern day Clarie Rayner if you like. And this is where the problem lies.
As a sketch on a show this would have been good. As a few columns in an anthology this would have been good. As a 350 page book, maybe not so much. I can hear this book in Jacks deadpan voice, and it would work for him, but it is just too much. The joke is spread much too thin and all just feels a little too samey.
November 30, 2024
This wasn't the most original of ideas and nor was it a groundbreaking entrant into the genre, but it was funny, which was more than enough. Often the humour comes from outlandish suggestions but he kept those to hypotheticals to have his cake and eat it, and generally just had an amusing take on common agony aunt questions. The Ruislip 'qualification' was less amusing but fortunately there wasn't too much on that and the printed book still got across his style and voice quite well. This was one of the better comedic works to result from lockdown even if it touched on classics like having to celebrate Christmas with in-laws.
February 4, 2025
It’s so stop and start with the topics that I found it hard to get into it and stay with it. The length of answers for the questions vary so much and I found often he was giving four pages of answer about a question I didn’t care about. I like Jack Dee and the concept of this book but even that isn’t enough to get me to finish it. It’s taken me three days and two attempts and I’ve still only read 25%. Just go and watch his stand up.
Read
January 1, 2022Jack actually provides useful comments on interpersonal relationships but in his own intelligent and individual comedic style. There were a few laugh-out-loud moments but not many. It was very readable because I could imagine him speaking the text and the situations he described seemed generally very real.
June 30, 2024
the abreviation 'lol' ( laugh out loud), is meant for this book, i was laughing to hard after reading first bit i couldnt breathe, and had to stop reading and only read bits at a time,even now if i thinkof the 'musical recital. it makes me laugh, bloody funny, too funny, he is a comedy master, fantastic book, id recommend it it to anybody,
February 2, 2022
A quirky book with a twist. What happens when a Stand-Up Comedian takes a short therapy course and starts advising people? Dee gives an interesting view on some issues that provocative therapists would find very useful in engaging their clients to think in different ways.
January 15, 2023
Oh dear. I thought I was getting a memoir of droll, deadpan comic, Jack Dee.
Instead this was a weird hybrid of humour and apparent genuine common sense ... not what I wanted from a comedian I have such good memories of (from the 1990s, admittedly).
Instead this was a weird hybrid of humour and apparent genuine common sense ... not what I wanted from a comedian I have such good memories of (from the 1990s, admittedly).
March 4, 2024
Great observational humour, and I especially loved listening to Jack reading it. It became slightly repetitive though and the points relating to Covid feel amazingly out-of-date even though it’s not that long ago. (Audiobook)
January 1, 2025
This book was quite the let down.
It wasn't really funny and it dragged on for what felt like an age.
The only reason I finished it was because it was light hearted and easy to read.
I've read all of the books by Jack Dee and this is the worst by far!
It wasn't really funny and it dragged on for what felt like an age.
The only reason I finished it was because it was light hearted and easy to read.
I've read all of the books by Jack Dee and this is the worst by far!
April 24, 2022
A book obviously written in lockdown but is none the worse for it. Just very Jack!
July 31, 2022
Funny funny!
August 20, 2022
A genuinely hilarious parody of self-help literature and the possibilities offered by the internet.
January 4, 2023
I'd forgotten how much I love jack Dee...
If you feel a bit exasperated by political correctness gone mad, this book is the perfect antidote.
If you feel a bit exasperated by political correctness gone mad, this book is the perfect antidote.
September 7, 2023
I had a few laughs with this book, but it falls between two stools, advice and comedy. Some of the comedy seems forced and its hard to know what's genuine or not -
January 19, 2024
Diverting and mildly entertaining - though I do think you have to read this in Jack Dee's voice! It's irreverent but you may find some useful life advice within (just don't expect to!)
October 25, 2024
More 2.5 stars, and a real disappointment, as I like Jack Dee and really enjoyed his last book. This just didn't work for me, for some reason.
September 25, 2023
⭐️⭐️½
I'm not a massive Jack Dee fan, but I quite like him, and this looked like an undemanding, fun read. However, I really struggled to read and enjoy this book: in the end, I had to resort to continually updating what page I'd reached to make me feel like I was making progress.
The idea of Jack Dee, comedy's "little ray of sleet" as a trained psychotherapist ("An incredibly gruelling four hours of study" with The Ruislip College of Advansed Learning [sic]) acting as an agony aunt is bizarre from the off - and to be honest, it didn't totally work for me. In fact, the concept of Jack Dee 'helping' people with their problems in comic fashion wears thin remarkably quickly: I don't feel it was sustainable over 300+ pages. I didn't find it funny, either: I couldn't agree less with the glowing comments about its hilarity made by Richard Osman and Katherine Ryan.
I found it best to read What Is Your Problem? in short bursts, because reading it at length soon became boring due to the 'samey' nature of the text.
To be fair, some sections are quite entertaining, and Dee raises and makes some very pertinent points and interesting observations, some of them remarkably succinct and even touching. All the same, this isn't a book I'd recommend unless Dee's mordant style and wit are to your taste.
I'm not a massive Jack Dee fan, but I quite like him, and this looked like an undemanding, fun read. However, I really struggled to read and enjoy this book: in the end, I had to resort to continually updating what page I'd reached to make me feel like I was making progress.
The idea of Jack Dee, comedy's "little ray of sleet" as a trained psychotherapist ("An incredibly gruelling four hours of study" with The Ruislip College of Advansed Learning [sic]) acting as an agony aunt is bizarre from the off - and to be honest, it didn't totally work for me. In fact, the concept of Jack Dee 'helping' people with their problems in comic fashion wears thin remarkably quickly: I don't feel it was sustainable over 300+ pages. I didn't find it funny, either: I couldn't agree less with the glowing comments about its hilarity made by Richard Osman and Katherine Ryan.
I found it best to read What Is Your Problem? in short bursts, because reading it at length soon became boring due to the 'samey' nature of the text.
To be fair, some sections are quite entertaining, and Dee raises and makes some very pertinent points and interesting observations, some of them remarkably succinct and even touching. All the same, this isn't a book I'd recommend unless Dee's mordant style and wit are to your taste.
August 30, 2023
Jack Dee the agony aunt.
Instead of the baking and Joe Wick's exercise many people filled their COVID-19 lockdowns with, Jack Dee retrained as a psycho-therapist (for half a day!) and started giving advice in his unique and cynical style. He loses a star for the mention of the band Steps' reunion and new album in a 'it can't get any worse' moment. Just rude.
Instead of the baking and Joe Wick's exercise many people filled their COVID-19 lockdowns with, Jack Dee retrained as a psycho-therapist (for half a day!) and started giving advice in his unique and cynical style. He loses a star for the mention of the band Steps' reunion and new album in a 'it can't get any worse' moment. Just rude.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews